Probably one of the most famous and sought after cigars not made on the island of Cuba, the Opus X is the first Dominican Puro to garner such high acclaim. The various sizes consistently produce high ratings from cigar reviewers everywhere. And as is often the case when someone or something achieves such a high level of success, it has fostered a kind of love-hate relationship with avid cigar smokers. Like the New York Yankees are the baseball team so many love to hate, the Opus is a cigar that, in addition to high praise, also elicits some vehement dislike from some in the cigar world who believe the cigar is over hyped and over priced. I have never heard anyone say it was a bad cigar though. Like or dislike the line for whatever reasons, everyone seems to agree if you set aside the hype, the price, and all the other outside “stuff” and take the cigars just by themselves, the Opus X line of cigars are pretty good smokes.

La Flor Dominicana - Ligero Cabinet Oscuro, by Litto Gomez, isn't a new release but it is a regular in my humidor so I thought I would share it with you. It is their first full-bodied release and while not a true maduro cigar, they tell me they obtained the oscuro color and full-bodied flavor profile by applying a new proprietary method of trabajando to the aged ligero leaves used to make it. What was told to me by a representative was that the method is a company secret but try to imagine an overly ripe banana... It comes in several parejo vitollas: L200 - 40 x 4 7/8, L250 - 48 x 5 3/4, L300 - 50 x 5 3/4, L400 - 54 x 5 3/4, L500 - 60 x 5 3/4, and one they call the Mysterio which is a figurado.

I picked up a few of these at another Aston Taste of Excellence events. These are great events. That evening the Cabinet Selection was paired with Oban 14 because it starts sweet but ends with a hint of spice. For this review, I smoked the cigar with no libation. The Cabinet’s Dominican filler is aged at least four to five years. The wrapper is aged one year longer. Aston claims no less than six different fillers in the cigar and it takes seven years to make it from seed to cigar.

Background Info

Unfortunately, I have none. I picked this cigar up from a shop I usually don’t go to. The reason why I don’t go to this cigar shop (that is literally walking distance from my house, a cigar smoker's dream) is because the owner is the most boring cigar smoker I have ever met. On top of that, he knows nothing about what he is selling, and no surprise, he knows nothing about this cigar. That is why I go out of my way and 20 minutes away from my house to Leesburg Cigars & Pipes.

Mission Notes

It’s Monday, almost evening and I'm getting some homework done before I see the Deadskins vs the Queer-gles play on Monday Night Football. I am sitting next to the colors of fall in front of this tree, and honestly, it’s a great start to an evening. Before I keep going on, with my fake poetic self, let me stop. And enough about me, let’s talk about this cigar I have never even heard of.

Now this is going to be pretty simple to explain, yet it’s very weird. This cigar taste likes sweet veggies mixed with a light maduro flavor profile. Honestly, while I think most cigar smokers (especially full body cigar smokers) won't like this cigar, I actually really enjoy it. See, it still has the softness of a mild-to-medium body cigar that I like, but with plenty of maduro characteristics, which I also like. And at this price point, I can definitely see me smoking a lot of these.

Looking at the Cortez Cigars website, which looks like it just got hit by Hurricane Ugly, I managed to find out that the wrapper is a Brazilian Maduro. No wonder I enjoy this cigar! I feel like you can mix any other country, and as long as it has some Brazilian tobacco, you’re going to get a pretty good cigar.

You know what, this cigar is a winner in my book. Excellent quality, construction, burn and consistency in flavor. Again, it's not the most amazing cigar when it comes to flavor, but with everything else going perfect, this cigar is truly a bang for your buck. And definitely could fit in your daily cigar humidor section.

Final Statement

If you have a similar palate to mine, in which you enjoy mild to medium bodied cigars, but also enjoy the maduro characteristics, this is the ideal cigar for you. All you tough guys who enjoy the full body cigar, stay away because you will not like the Cortez.

Avo Signature is the last classic line from Mr. Uvezian that I haven’t reviewed yet. [Check out my previous reviews of Avo Classic, Avo XO and Avo Domaine]. The Signature blend was created to celebrate the 75th birthday of Avo Uvezian, the Dominican binder and filler wear an Ecuadorian sun-grown wrapper (quite common for Avo cigars).

The Francisco de Miranda cigars were introduced in the Argentinean market in 1999 by a group of young entrepreneurs who are passionate for the smoke of good quality cigars to satisfy a segment of young smokers who were demanding a fine cigar within an accessible price.

The cigars are hand-made in the factory located in Santiago de Caballeros from four years vintage tobacco leaves grown in the Cibao Valley with a mixture of Olor Dominicano, San Vicente and Piloto Cubano tobacco selected by the master blender Victor de la Cruz.

The Francisco de Miranda Robusto Bordeaux is a premium cigar made with the highest standards and a strict quality control.

I decided to review another Griffin's. A long time ago, I had a look at the Griffin's Maduro Toro and if I were to sum up that review, I'd say something like "good for beginners, predictable maduro". Today, we'll be examining the Griffin's No. 500 and I can already tell you that the conclusion will be fairly similar, we'll just replace "maduro" by "connecticut".

I received a couple of these cigars in an anonymous cigar bomb (thank you whoever you are!). I've never heard of the brand and first thought that these were not worthy of further research. However, out of pure curiousity I loaded Google and searched for Butera. No official website. I only found that this is a boutique cigar made for Michael Butera, often referred to as America's greatest pipemaker. Hand-made in the Dominican Republic, the Butera Bravo Corto is wrapped in a Connecticut Shade leaf and uses 6 different tobaccos from 3 different countries. As hard as I tried, I could not find valid information on what these 3 countries are, I can only suppose that one of them is Dominican Republic.